The 5 new spaces of Maritime History Museum created in 2019

The Grammont cable factory

In 1892, a building contractor from the Lyon region, Alexandre Grammont, built an establishment in the baie des Canebiers, that manufactured underwater telegraphic cables. The cable factory existed until 1952 when it was destroyed but it's activity never lasted for more than five years all in all. This space that already existed when the museum was inaugurated 6 years ago, has been completed with new elements: a lay out of the factory, a telephone, a fax, a plan of the factory and note books belonging to Alexandre Grammont.

Boating and regattas
On the terrace of the tower that opens on to the sea," it is obvious that Saint-Tropez is a boating haven", Laurent Pavlidis says the curator of the museum. His colleague Gilbert Buti discovered the first sources where pleasure boats were identified in around 1830. You can admire the models of some mythical boats; the Olympia that belonged to Paul Signac, Errol Flynn's Zaca, Pride and Ikra at the origin of the Nioulargue.

The heydays of speedboats

Saint-Tropez played an important role during the 1960's, in making speedboating fashionable, it was thanks to men like Antoine Mercurio, Marcel Biales, Joseph Fernandez and Roger Rizzo, founders of Sportmer, who imported Riva's from Italy and Cigarettes from Florida, the models of which you can admire alongside a Superyacht Mangousta. The offshore races from 1985 to 1996 with Didier Pironi, Pascal Villanova and Jean-Marc Sanchez also remind us that Saint-Tropez was champions land!

Coral and sponge fishing

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Saint-Tropez was renowned for coral fishing. In 1600, the town offered a branch of coral to the future queen of France, Marie de Medicis on a stopover in Saint-Tropez. The coral that was fished was dispersed throughout the Mediterranean from the Ottoman Empire and all the way to Tibet.

"Our Museum of Maritime History is a fabulous conservatory of souvenirs... here, every object tells a story" Laurent Pavlidis.